title: Assessing the effectiveness of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) to evaluate COPD severity and exacerbation rates.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The CAT is a short, simple eight-item questionnaire for assessing and monitoring COPD. It is not known how reliable the CAT scores are for COPD patients who are frequently exacerbated. The effectiveness of the CAT for assessing COPD severity and exacerbation rates was evaluated.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study enrolled 165 stable COPD patients who completed the CAT between April 2011 and February 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients had a mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) equal to 43.7% of the predicted value and a mean CAT score of 21.2 (± 7.56) units. There was a good association between the FEV1 (percentage of predicted value) and CAT scores (p < 0.0001). Frequent exacerbators had significantly higher CAT scores than infrequent exacerbators (24.8 ± 6.7 versus 17.5 ± 6.5, p < 0.0001). Also, as the frequency of the COPD exacerbations increased, CAT scores (p < 0.0001) significantly increased. There was a significant association between the frequency of hospitalization and the CAT scores (p = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed a good relation between the CAT, FEV 1, and disease severity in patients with COPD. We found that the baseline CAT scores are elevated in frequent exacerbators.
authors.affiliation: 1Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases Training and Research Hospital, Pulmonary Diseases, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases Training and Research Hospital , Izmir , Turkey.
authors.forename: Yelda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Varol
authors.forename: Rifat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ozacar
authors.forename: Gunseli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Balci
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Usta
authors.forename: Zuhre
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Taymaz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014797:Vital Capacity